President Trump’s call to give all American adults $5,000 payments if Republicans win the midterm election is getting panned by Republican lawmakers, who warn they will not support giving away money to people who don’t work or pay taxes.
Fiscal hawks in the GOP warn the extravagant proposal raises questions about the looming insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, which are projected to hit shortfalls in 2032 and 2033, respectively.
Trump’s proposed payments would add more than $1 trillion to the national debt and require Congress to raise the debt limit by more than initially expected to cover the reminder of his second term.
“We’re trying to figure out what that proposal is. He called it a ‘dividend’ but I don’t know what that proposal is and I’ve seen no legislation,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who warned that pumping more than a trillion dollars into the economy could make inflation worse.
“I don’t know whether it should go out at all,” he said.
“We watched the Inflation Reduction Act and the money that was actually shipped out the door and what that did to inflation across the country,” Lankford said of the economic impact of former President Biden’s signature spending bill in 2022. “That had a detrimental effect when you throw money out.”
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